additionally,
the devil's rotoscope' seems to be a favorite term among traditional
animation people [3]

The variety
of terms one hears is reflective of not only the newness of
the field, which is trying to define itself and still perfecting
its technology, but also the many directions that motion capture
is going.
It is employed in the fields of music, fine art dance/performance,
sign language, gesture recognition, rehabilitation/medicine,
biomechanics, special effects for live-action films, and computer
animation of all types, as well as in defense and athletic anal
ysisltraining. [4] In this paper, I will
use the generic term 'motion capture' or 'mocap' for the sake
of simplicity.

So, with
such a lot of options, perhaps I should address the most basic
question, "What is Motion Capture?" Writing an overviewing 'White
Paper' on the subject in 1995, Scott Dyer, Jeff Martin, and
John Zulauf explain that motion capture "involves measuring
an object's position and orientation in physical space, then
recording that information in a computer-usable form. Objects
of interest
include human and non-human bodies, facial expressions, camera
or light positions, and other elements in a scene." [5]
In most instances, a live subject, most likely human (but possibly
and animal or puppet), is used as the source of data which is
transformed into another form. However, a static object also
can be used for motion capture purposes. Perhaps best known
of the inanimate motion capture models is the 'Monkey', a 23-inch
articulated mannequin with 39 joints, created by Digital Image
Design. [6]A Monkey, of course, is different
from a live subject in that it provides pose data but no timing
information. Dyer, et al., explain that the Monkey provides
an easy transition for animators trained in stop motion, since
it relies on posed models rather than the direction of live
performers. [7]

As with
traditional animation and many other arts, mocap is actually
composed of a number of phases. Dancer Lisa Marie Naugle, an
Assistant Professor at University of California, Irvine, identifies
them as follows:[8]

calibration
of capture area (she uses a cube and wand to prepare cameras
for capturing data)

capture
of movement (which of course includes the actual performance)

clean-up
of data

post-processing
of data (it can appear as two-dimensional or three-dimensional
objects)

There is
another question about motion capture I will consider briefly,
but not attempt to answer: "Is it Animation?" In a 1999 article
which appears in Animation World Magazine's special issue
on motion capture, Brad deGraf and Emre Yilmaz's response to
this question is that the debate is one of semantics. I tend
to agree. I am less concerned with arguing for or against motion
capture, or comparing it qualitatively to other animation techniques,
than exploring its current state and (eventually) the way in
which spectators in entertainment and fine art applications
respond to figures based on 'realistic' motion capture data
(that is, characters based on the performance of humans).

The Question
of Artistry

Most agree
that the term motion capture already has a negative connotation.
In a way, I see motion capture being in a similar situation
to limited animation, which also has been derided in terms
of its aesthetics. Like rotoscoping, limited animation and motion
capture are seen as "technical cheats," to use the words of
Greg Pair, of AMPnyc. He notes that the same stigma attacked
CGI when it first appeared, but he thinks "when technology and
output improves, motion capture will be seen as yet another
new medium and not a replacement for the traditional media."
He also suggests that some of the disdain for motion capture
stems from a fear of losing jobs to this technology. [9]

Throughout
the history of animation, producers have sought ways of reducing
the time and money needed to create animated images. Certainly,
limited animation and rotoscoping can be conceived of as time-saving
devices, though creative uses of these techniques can expand
their production process-and costs. Motion capture (like computer
animation, in general) is often touted as being both time- and
money-saving, but actually it is not yet at the point where
it is always a 'better deal' than traditional techniques. One
must know the technology well enough to judge when it actually
will produce more economical results. Nonetheless, it is common
to hear statistics like those published in a 1999 Animation
World Magazine article by Deborah Reber, regarding the Nickelodeon
network's use of motion capture; she explains,
"based on Nickelodeon's model, a half-hour motion capture animation
program could cost as little as $200,000 versus a minimum of
$400,000 per episode for a traditional ccl animated half-hour
program. [10] In a 1997 Los Angeles Times
article, Marla Matzer provides another perspective on costs:
"Medialab... estimates that a 'full body' character can be animated
for as little as $1,000 per minute; over a series of shows,
the price can go even lower. Cel animation, by contrast, can
cost as much as $5,000 a minute." [11]
She explains, however, that "these prices don't include other
production elements, such as backgrounds"; [12]
presumably, they also do not include post-production enhancements
to facial features and other character movements. Also, most
prices quoted are for the capture of a single character- typically
a host on a children's show who has no physical interaction
with other characters, since it costs more to do that. [13]
Seth Rosenthal sums up the situation by saying, "Motion capture
is irreplaceable for some applications and inappropriate for
others. When used well, it can be incredibly cost effective,
but, in practice, some of those savings are displaced to other
parts of the production."[14]

In
1995, Dyer, et al., wrote that "motion capture is one of the
hottest topics in computer graphics today. It is also often
poorly understood and oversold."' [15] Rosenthal
seems to agree, saying one of the biggest problems is "that
the community of vendors have exaggerated the capabilities of
the technology and are given to making claims that are almost
guaranteed to offend anyone working in animation: usually, regarding
how much cheaper it is, how much superior it is to traditional
animation, etc. [16]Today, it seems that
America remains less accepting of mocap than other countries,
where the technology is being used in entertainment to a greater
extent. [17] In any case, I find it interesting
that this process has a lack of respect within the 'mass art'
of animation but much more support within the fine arts-particularly
dance and music (not to mention other areas, such as the sciences).
Usually, it is the other way around; in this case, however,
I have found more fine artists who lock favorably on motion
capture, while the immediate response of animators (except those
working with motion capture, of course) has been strongly negative.

Within
the entertainment industry, one sees various indications that
motion capture is being resisted. For example, a June 1999 Vanel
article reports that the Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences did not allow "Donkey Kong Country," produced by Nelvana
Communications, to compete in the animation category of the
Emmy Awards. [18] In the same article, Bob
Kurtz is quoted as saying, "Animation is about creating an illusion
of motion that doesn't otherwise exist. (Mocap) doesn't involve
the same artistic input and creativity." [19]

Note that
the emphasis in Kurtz' s statement is on the origin of the image
(within a creative mind). In motion capture, a significant amount
of the creative process occurs during post production process,
when data is manipulated to become animated imagery. Sometimes
imagery is manipulated 'on the fly,' or as the performance of
real-time animation is taking place; this might be compared
to disc jockeys who mix and scratch records as they are played
to create new and original musical compositions from pre-recorded
music.

Seth
Rosenthal, of ILM, makes an argument that creativity does in
fact occur early in the mocap process. He insists that "Mocap
is much more about performing, directing talent and benefiting
from the spontaneity of live performance. [20]
Chris Walker, one of the founders of Modern Cartoons, provides
an altogether different view of the 'artistry' of motion capture.
He contends that "Motion Capture is a different art form. It's
not classical animation but it is animation. It's transporting
the viewer away from reality." [21] Here
the emphasis is on the final product and its situation as a
fantasy construct.

Dr.
Norman Badler of the Center for Human Modeling and Simulation
makes an argument that motion capture is an aspect of animation.
He says, "Motion Capture is basically 3-D rotoscoping. If you
accept rotoscoping as a form of animation then you have to accept
motion capture." [22] The problem with his
argument is that many people do not accept rotoscoping as a
form of animation. Greg Pair believes that "the stigma [of the
rotoscope] seems to have rolled over" to motion capture. [23]

Certainly,
mocap shares with roto animation the close relation to a model's
form (human motion). The extent to which the two-model and image-are
related can vary dramatically, some feeling of the 'presence'
of a human being still exists in most animation of these types.
When watching a film like FIeischer'sGulliver's Travels
(1939), it is of course easy to sense that Gulliver is quite
different in essence from the little people around him; you
don't have to know that rotoscoped footage was used to create
him in order to sense that difference.

A related
animation technique involves the use of 'reference footage';
that is, a live model/performer is filmed and artists study
his or her movements closely (frame by frame) in order to create
animated movement. In this case, the live person's relationship
to the animation is more distant to the end product, since the
reference footage just suggests how images should look and does
not literally provide the basis for it. In a way, the artist
using reference footage is making a drawn record of what he
or she sees-a print record (ultimately transformed into a motion
one) of a series of movements.

From this
perspective, we might see the animator's work as a form of visual
'notation'. That is how Lisa Marie Naugle describes motion capture
in terms of her dance performance work. Notation, as I use the
term here, generally refers to a recording of movement in print
form, so that it might be preserved, studied, and perhaps re-enacted
at some future time. Ethnographic researchers can use notation,
for example, to record ceremonial dances that are on the verge
of 'extinction' because the people who perform it are becoming
integrated into another culture. One of the best known forms
of dance notation is called the Laban dance notation system
(actually a software program called 'LabanWriter' can be integrated
into the motion capture process). Naugle compares Laban and
motion capture, as two forms of notation, with the use of video
and film recording. She explains that the benefits of using
motion capture over other sorts of notation are that it allows
analysis from any point of view and that it
can be visualized in 3D form. She explains, "Looking at dance
images from different locations and perspectives, notators,
choreographers and dancers can create annotations or list notes
about the work .. . While video may be used repeatedly to extract
information about color, motion, and, to a limited extent, depth,
it is often lacking in detail or definition. Even if the video
has been edited from several different perspectives, the medium
does not allow for a full exploration of movement in three dimensions.
[24]

This sentiment
is echoed in an article about a dance performance by Bill T.
Jones which employs mocap technology:

Dancers
stroke a metaphorical canvas, sketching ephemeral lines that
are lost in the moment of creation. The invention of film and
video immortalized some of this centuryY5 greatest dancers,
preserving their movement for the next generation. But the quality
of such recordings betrays the vitality of the dancer, often
leaving the viewer
with snatches of their genius seen through a murky lens. Motion
capturing, the product of body sensors that create a constellation-like
skeleton reassembled with computer brushes and palettes, may
change the dancerís predicament de rigueur by invigorating a
self they didnít know they had. Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar
of Riverbed have motion captured the legendary dancer Bill T.
Jones for their exhibit at Cooper Union. The artists call it
"Ghostcatching," the term Native Americans gave to photography
which some believed stole their souls. [25]

Motion
capture also can be described as a sort of 'sampling', a term
that is perhaps most familiar in terms of music, when bits of
pre-recorded music, dialogue or other sounds are recorded
and mixed into a new composition (I've already made the comparison
between record 'scratching' and the type of animation that occurs
in real-time animation). It seems common for supporters of motion
capture technology to compare its process to music recording.
[26] Brad deGraf and Emre Yilmaz go so far
as to describe it as "a new kind of jazz." [27]
It is also not difficult to see parallels between motion capture
and certain types of electronic music, such as the Theremin,
an instrument that translates human movement into sound. [28]
This is not to suggest that all or even most motion capture
has reached the level of artistry one might associate with accomplished
musicians and music technology, but rather a way of conceptualizing
how motion capture might work and, in some cases, does.

In
terms of animation, motion capture can be used for different
aspects of production. [29] For example,
captured motions can be used real-time directly in a work, with
or without secondary animation of hands and face in post production.
The captured data also can be transformed into characters and
modified completely during post-production. Sometimes mocap
is used only as reference material, as filmed reference footage
is used. As Richard Cray, founding director of the Performance
Animation Society, notes, "very often animators rehearse their
character's moves themselves prior to keyframing or hand positioning
the various elements. They can be seen dancing about, crawling
on the floor and performing other
acts of physical movement in their workspaces in the process
of designing their character's motion. All Motion Capture does
is add the capability of tracking these rehearsals if an animator
chooses to do them and helps package their performance in a
digital format for them to use and reference as they see fit."
[30]

According
to Seth Rosenthal, mocap is used as the basis of animatics at
ILM. He says "We have been using magnetic for animatic work
because it is fast and inexpensive, and we have been using optical
for feature work because it is accurate. [31]

Types
of Motion Capture

It
is sometimes suggested that the roots of motion capture can
be seen in the motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge and Etienne
Jules Marey. In the form we think of it today, mocap technology
has been developing since the 1970s, when it was created for
military use, and has been used in entertainment since the mid-198Os.
[32] Over the years, mocap has taken many
forms, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Following
is a summary of three types of mocap used in entertainment and
the ways in which they work. Examples and more description of
all these types of motion capture systems is available on a
website at La Trobe University, "Introduction to Motion Capture
in Music." [33]

1. Mechanical

performer
wears a human-shaped set of straight metal pieces (like a
very basic skeleton) that is hooked onto the performer's back;
as the performer moves, this exoskeleton is forced to move
as well and sensors in each joint feel the rotations

other
types of mechanical motion capture involve gloves, mechanical
arms, or articnlated models(like Monkey), which are used for
'key framing'

pro:
no interference from light or magnetic fields

con:
a) the technology has no awareness of ground, so there can
be no jumping, plus feet data tends to slide, b) equipment
must be calibrated often. c) unless there is some other type
of sensor in place, it does not know which way the performer's
body is pointing, d) absolute positions are not known but
are calculated from the rotations

2. Optical

performer
wears reflective dots that are followed by several cameras
and the information is triangulated between them

markers
are either reflective, such as a system manufactured by Vicon
or Motion Analysis, or infra-red emitting, many of which have
been developed for musical applications (such as conducting)

pro:
a) performer feels free to move due to no cables connecting
body to the equipment, b) larger volumes possible, c) more
performers are possible, d) very clean, detailed data

con:
a) it is prone to light interference, b) reflective dots can
be blocked by performers or other structures, causing loss
of data, or occlusion-this can be compensated for with software
which estimates the position of a missing dot, c) rotations
of body parts must be solved for and are not absolute, d)
performer must wear a suit with dots and balls (20-30 for
body, in 1995), which may be uncomfortable, e) information
has to be post-processed or 'tracked' before viewing so performer
cannot see his or her image and so cannot be as creative or
identify potential problems (a hand hitting a giant nose,
for example), f) higher cost than magnetic (a cost of US$150,000
to 250,000 in 1995), g) tracking can take 1-2 minutes per
captured second for straightforward data (complicated can
take 15-30 minutes per second, according to 1995 data)

3. Electromagnetic
(magnetic)

performer
wears an array of magnetic receivers which track location
with respect to a static magnetic transmitter

one of
the first uses was for the military, to track head movements
of pilots

often
this type of motion capture is layered with animation from
other input devices

the two
main manufacturers of this type of motion capture equipment
are Polhemus and Ascension

pro:
a) positions are absolute, rotations are measure absolutely;
orientation in space can be determined, which is very useful,
b) can be real-time, which allows immediate broadcast as well
as the opportunity for performers to puppeteer themselves
with instantaneous feedback (more spontaneity in the performance),
c) relatively cheaper than optical (1995 price under US$40,000
for a typical system)

con:
a) magnetic distortion occurs as distance increases, b) data
can be noisy - it's not as good as optical, c) prone to interference
from magnetic fields - cement floors usually contain metal,
so stages must be built, d) performers wear cables connecting
them to a computer, which limits their freedom, e) in 1995,
sampling speed too low for many sports applications

In their 1995
"White Paper," Dyer, Martin and Zulauf explain:

The typical magnetic motion capture session is run much like
a film shoot. Careful rehearsal ensures that the performers
are familiar with the constraints of the tethers and the available
'active' space for capture. Rehearsal often includes the grips
for the cables to ensure that their motion aligns to the motion
of the performers. The script is broken down into manageable
shot lengths and is often story boarded prior to motion capture.
Each shot may be recorded several times, and an audio track
is often used as a synchronizing element.

Because
the magnetic systems provide data in real-time, the director
and actors can observe the results of the motion capture both
during the actual take and immediately after, with audio playback
and unlimited ability to adjust the camera for a better view.
The tight feedback loop makes magnetic motion capture ideally
suited for situations in which the motion range is limited
and direct interaction between the actor, director, and computer
character is important.[34]

Today,
wireless magnetic systems are available from Ascension, for
example, though the performer still must wear a relatively bulky
pack of materials on his or her suit.

Other types
of motion capture technologies include: sonic, which employs
ultrasound and is subject to several types of interference;
biofeedback sensing, which measures bodily movement from the
heart, brain, retina, eyes, skin, and muscles, and is used extensively
in biomechanical and sports related work, but also has been
used for music performance; electric field sensing, in which
the body either works as a transmitter or a source of interference,
which is measured; inertial systems, which measure acceleration,
orientation, angle of incline and other characteristics; and
video, employing optical technologies which can detect changes
in luminescence and color.

Part
of what makes motion capture technology such a challenge is the
speed at which everything must occur. In real-time mocap, within
1/30th of a second, the length of one frame of video, motion must
be sampled, data must be applied to a digital scene representing
various body parts of a character, and a scene must be rendered
into a digital image. Depending on the system used, interference
of the signals can impede accurate collection of data. [35]

In full
body motion capture, typically sensors, or markers, are placed
at selected joints on the performer.
Several marker segments make up a body segment and each has
a 'weight' -that is, influence or priority in bone hierarchy
(degrees of freedom). [36] Movements of
performers captured in real-time mocap can be supplemented with
automated movements, such as blinking, breathing, hand gestures,
or secondary actions (for example, when a foot hits ground,
its toes spread out). These are called 'expressions': program
components written to control a number of low-level features
from one high-level attribute, so that the movement becomes
more interesting. [37] Related to this are
voice recognition systems, such as one developed by Shane Cooper
at Protozoa, which allow almost real-time synchronization of
mouth movements with words; however, the movements necessarily
follow the words and so are at least slightly out of synch.
Cooper says that the proper way to work is actually through
the audio bank: to have visuals rendered from audio information,
not vice-versa. He has not been able to perfect his work, though,
because the mocap systems he works with are led by visual material
(that is, movement of some sort other than sound waves).

Although
the above categories- mechanical, optical, magnetic, sonic,
biofeedback, electric field, inertial, and video-are common
ways of classifying mocap, another means is by whether a system
is 'active' or 'passive'. Active devices include magnetic equipment
and synchronized lights, if used in optical motion capture,
while passive systems most commonly refer to the use of reflective
markers in optical mocap. Passive systems usually are more economical,
since there is more 'wear and tear' on active devices. However,
the cost of the passive optical mocap process overall generally
is higher than the active magnetic mocap process, since optical
usually involves more post-production and magnetic is often
employed for real-time animation without labor-intensive post
processing.

There are
also categories for the motion capture itself, most commonly
divided into the areas of body movement, facial capture, and
hand gestures. Special facial capture systems and gloves can
be used to record the more subtle movements of faces and hands
that add personality to animated images. Typically, this recording
is done separately from the body capture, though it can be done
all at once. Shane Cooper notes that "people are very critical
of facial
animation," [38] in terms of sensing the
'realism' of a character. Though audiences are perhaps not as
critical about the hands of characters, nonetheless these appendages
are very important to the animation process (recall that Lotte
Reiniger relied on hand gestures to give dimension to her silhouette
animation; she felt that, "with silhouettes, the hands are one
of the few ways which can convey characters' feelings" [39]).
As a result, most 'high quality' mocap will involve post production
facial animation and work on hand gestures, to create nuances
that make characters more complex. However, in low-budge productions,
little post work is done. As a result, close-ups tend to be
avoided; in her Animation World Magazine article on the
new "Voltron" series, Deborah Reber makes this observation.
[40]

In another
AWM article, Reber explains an approach to facial animation
that is used in more elaborate productions. The feature-length
Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists, produced by Pentafour
in 1999, employed one performer for the body of each character
and another for its facial data. Body performers were chosen
because they matched the height and body shape of the characters
in the film. Voice performers for the film are recognizable
stars (including
Brendan Fraser, Leonard Nimoy, Mark Hamill, Jennifer Hale, and
John Rhys Davies), a common marketing decision for feature films.
[41] Incidentally, shooting of the film's
studio material lasted eight weeks and the films' cost is estimated
to be under US$20 million, about one-fifth that of a Disney
animated feature. [42] Future Directions

Is there
a direction in which motion capture development seems to be
heading? It is difficult to tell because there are varying opinions
on which is the most promising technology. Shane Cooper, who
is presently working at the innovative ZKM Center for Art and
Media in Germany, feels that magnetic systems offer the best
quality data; however, he sees a lot of research going into
optical systems due to its flexibility. Seth Rosenthal notes
that optical mocap usually is employed in feature film production
(examples can be found in Titanic and Star Wars Episode
I: The Phantom Menace) because of the higher quality data,
while magnetic is used for live, interactive situations.

In any
case, one can find assorted issues that are being addressed
in motion capture research and development, as a whole. Consideration
of these points can assist the analyst in assessing the aesthetics
of motion capture work. Often, one will find hardware and software
manufacturers emphasizing the ways that their products solve
some of the following problems: geometric dissimilarity, different
movement qualities in performers and cartoony characters, increasing
data collection ability, and an increased number of performers
which can be captured simultaneously.

Geometric
dissimilarity between the performer and the character he or
she is supposed to be always has been one of "the most difficult
problems facing motion capture animators."[43
]In 1999, deGraf and Yilmaz discussed this point, saying
"a crucial step in going beyond motion capture is re-proportioning
data to fit non-human shaped characters Making human-shaped
data work on one of these characters, without introducing
ugly artifacts like skating feet [feet that slide along the
ground, as an effect of mismatched proportions], is a challenge
and an art."[44]

There
tend to be differences between the way in which humans and
classically animated characters move: the speeds of acceleration
and deceleration are different. Because motion capture records
movements at an even pace, reflecting natural human motion,
there can be problems creating truly cartoony movement. [45]

Relatively
limited amounts of data can be collected, which tends to be
seen as a liability. However, some find it is actually better
to use fewer data points. DeGraf and Yilmaz are among them,
saying, "Ironically, it's often better to have less data than
more-we usually use only 12 body sensors. If you had one sensor
for every single moving part of the body,
you'd have a lot more information tying you to the human form,
but for our purposes we just want enough sensors to convey
the broad lines and arcs of the body. [46]
Without being too tied in to the actual human form, one can
minimize the obvious link between a character and its human
model. Seth Rosenthal's opinion is that the capability of
capturing of data is now quite good, but the incorporation
of that data into sophisticated animation remains difficult.
That is, the capturing technology itself is at a more advanced
level than the processing and post-production technology.
He explains, "the software tools are not adequate at this
point, so it requires a high level of expertise to use the
data effectively." [47]

Motion
capture often requires performers to be recorded separately.
This is true of multiple motion capture characters or even
one character who is composed of data from separate voice
and body performers. When performers are composited, there
is less integration of the characters with each other- because
they were not together when they were 'filmed'. The same is
true for dubbing sessions, for example. Sometimes voice performers
are recorded separately and sometimes as an ensemble. When
performers are not together as they are recorded, they cannot
act off each other. However, when groups of performers are
captured simultaneously, other problems arise. For example,
the number of polygons available to be digitized for each
performer is decreased, reducing image quality.

enhancement
of performance conditions through lack of tethering and simplification
of performance apparel

increased
speed of the technology

increased
'volume' or area in which performances can be captured

lower
cost, so that consumers and independent artists can have access
and experiment/expand the technology

increased
accuracy of the results, including improved physical abilities,
so that characters can touch each other and feet meet solidly
on the ground

greater
ability to capture data from multiple characters

combination
of virtual reality and existing mocap technologies could aid
in technological development

Concluding
Remarks

This paper
has summarized some basic historical, technological and aesthetic
points related to motion capture, particularly in terms of entertainment
and fine art. My future research will take me into a deeper
connection between these two groups. As I see it, fine artists
using motion capture share some interests I have found in my
research of experimental animators. Harry Smith, Len Lye and
a host of other abstract artists are among those who explored
physiological issues in their work. The whole concept of 'expanded'
perception, a common focus
for experimental filmmakers (and artists, in general) beginning
in the 1950s and explored in the writing of P. Adams Sitney,
among others, is another possible link to the aesthetics of
motion capture. One might also consider how the artwork that
explores the concept of synaesthetia, an overlapping of the
senses, is related to experiments in motion capture. [50]
For example, how does the imagery produced by Oskar Fischinger's
Lumigraph, which translated human movement into abstract visuals,
link to motion capture practice?

A 1996
Wired article by Evantheia Schibsted suggests that motion
capture taps into intangible elements of experience. In the
article, the author refers to Merce Cunningham's opinion of
a specific type of software called Lifeforms, which "is not
revolutionizing dance but expanding
it, because you see movement in a way that was always there-but
wasn't visible to the naked eye." Dancer and software designer
Theela Shiphorst extends this idea, adding that "the nonlinguistic
knowledge inherent in physical training is a richly technical
world that can inform technological development." [51]

A more
concrete example of the way in which motion capture taps into
bodily rhythms can be found in another Wired article,
this one a May 1998 report on a motion capture device called
Smartpen. This pen, which is used as a security device, detects
movement, rather than the signature produced while using it.
The article's author, Tom Standage, explains that "Smartpen,
from LCI Computer Group, doesn't give a hoot about your scrawl-it
uses sensors to detect the motion of the pen, another unique
data 'signature.' Looks like a pen, writes
like a pen-acts like a biometric capture device." He adds that
the Smartpen is more subtle than a fingerprint or iris scan
and, unlike a signature, your biometric identity can't be forged.
[52]

In
an article on computer generated animation, Leslie Bishko talks
about different types of viewer responses that can be created
by animation, ranging from gut-level to evocative to conceptual.[53]
I think it is worth exploring how viewers respond to motion
capture imagery in animation, including their perception of
facial and hand movements. All these areas are of interest to
me and, I think, help pave the way for discussion of how motion
capture might expand the expressive possibilities of animation
in terms of both entertainment and fine art.

Thanks
to Linda Simensky for her research assistance and to Shane Cooper,
Richard Cray and Greg Pair for providing me with replies to
my research questions. Thanks also to Lisa Naugle for sharing
her research with me and to Deanna Morse for sending me a copy
of her video and other materials related to her work.

4.
Many of these functions are discussed at a web site affiliated
with La Trobe University, which provides an introduction to
motion capture in music: "Applications of Motion Capture," http://farben.latrobe.edu.au/motion/int/inLapps.html.
One of the first examples of data glove use in a film is Deanna
Morse's Sandpaintings, from 1993. The glove is used
to create sign language in the film. return

6.
A May 1995 article in Wired magazine reports that they
cost $12,500 each and that up to 16 Monkeys could be used simultaneously
through one serial port. David Reim, "Touch the Monkey," Wired
3:5 (May 1995). return

8.
Lisa Marie Naugle, "Motion Capture: Re-collecting the Dance,"
paper presented to the International Council of Kinetography
Laban, July 1990. Although most people think of motion capture
as resulting in three-dimensional images, there are various
possibilities for creating two-dimensional figures. One method
is to capture the data in the same manner as 3D, using a software
program that make the characters look 'hand drawn.' Another
method is to actually throw out the z-axis data, which creates
the three-dimensionality. In this case, all 3D rotations are
recalculated as 2D projections of the rotations. Shane Cooper,
letter to the author, 7 July 1999.- Rosenthal, quoted in Kenyon,
"ILM's Seth Rosenthal." return

13.
Jeffrey Beers, Executive Producer of the Digital Animation Group
at Nickelodeon, is of the opinion that "motion capture animation
is perfect for live or hosted events like the Kids Choice Awards
when you need to do real-time animation." This statement appears
in an Animation World Magazine article by Deborah Reber,
who further elaborates, "In these instances, motion capture
offers instantaneous animation at a level of quality that is
acceptable for these types of shows. Plus, when no post-rendering
is needed and the animation is truly 'real-time,' the cost benefits
are quite evident." She cites one example, a seven-minute motion
capture 'interview' with Stu Pickles (of "Rugrats") that occurred
on VH-1 to promote the release of The Rugrats Movie; it
cost less than $60,000 to produce. Reber, "Nick Strives to Define
Motion Capture." Linda Simensky, Vice President of Original
Animation for the Cartoon Network, is also in favor of using
motion capture for real-time, interactive hosting situations,
such as a call-in program. However, in general, she is not interested
in developing motion-capture based programming for the network.
Linda Simensky, interview with the author, June 1999. return

28.
For more information, see the Electronic Music Foundation at
http://www.cdemusic.org. The EMF sells videos, recordings and
books dealing with the Theremin, Buchla instruments, 3dis, and
other interactive systems. See, for example, Joel Chadabe, Electric
Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music (New York:
Prentice Hall, 1996). return